HG Nuzlocke #8

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.... I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught... my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear... the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares... we have already come. T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far... and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me... His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be... as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years... bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise... then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.... I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see"

You might be confused about the beginning to this blog. Why, you ask, do I post the lyrics to "Amazing Grace" and start by noting the playing of bagpipes (the Scottish...uh...balloon bag with pipes...like an inflatable pipe organ, I suppose). The reason is simple. This post starts as a funeral.

"Oh God, no! Who?!" You may be wondering. Well, It's my sad duty to report that another pokemon has left the team. The nuzlocke challenge claimed a life I held dear.

A life I cherished as they more than held up their weight through the run thus far! This pokemon was a dominant force, barreling through the competition whenever I needed them. Always cheery, following behind me happily. Many a time did I look back to talk to them; to see how they were doing; only to be greeted with a happy smile and eager gusto, ready to mow down their opponent.

The pokemon accompanied me pretty far and got to a nice, respectable level. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

That pokemon is.... Dr. Claw

Taken before her time, Dr. Claw was cruelly struck down by a critical hit from a Seadra in the Blackthorn City gym. It was a lone trainer before Claire. Seadra was the only opposition. Dr. Claw was primed and ready. I just healed her since she took down others fairly easy. Unfortunately, she was critically hit by a Bubblebeam and was dead in one shot. You may be thinking, "Wait, a Bubblebeam? Isn't Dr. Claw a water-type? How did it one shot her when she was resistant AND at full health?" Well, sadly, Dr. Claw's Special Defense was sorely lacking.

Normally, that alone wouldnt result in a death, however that particular Seadra had the ability "Sniper". An ability I totally forgot existed... Typically speaking, a critical hit results in 2x damage. The ability 'Sniper', however, is one that says that Critical hits do 3x damage. With Dr. Claw's poor special defense, surviving a critical at full health would have left her low, but she would have made it. It was the ability of Sniper that packed the extra punch that was enough to end her poke-career.

And so, with a heavy heart, I do end this eulogy dedicated to Dr. Claw and begin the tale of what happened last time I played.

When last I left, I had made it to Blackthorn City and knew I would need a pretty decent amount of time to train since I was unable to catch any guys. I also made a point to note that I had a plan. Now, had I been smart, before starting this post, I would have looked to see whether I detailed that plan in the last blog entry. I forgot to do that, so I will state it quickly. Given a shuckle (the defense behemoth) from a guy in Cianwood City, I decided to use it as a meat shield against Claire. I threw him into Daycare so he could be leveled as I walked around raising my others up awhile and to be picked up before taking on the gym. I also went to visit Bill and got an Eevee with the hopes of raising an Umbreon. I'm not too used to Umbreon, but I do know that they specialize in Defense; meaning I'd have another person to tank hits while I heal.

Umbreon was a being of darkness that evolves through happiness only at night (designated by starting at 8pm and running till 4am real time, I believe). It didn't take long after attaching a soothe bell (raises happiness gained each time by 1.5) and by spamming the haircut brothers in Goldenrod. Fortunately, there's multiple ways to raise happiness. Giving medicine (Proteins, Irons, etc), leveling up, walking 256 steps (every 256 steps gets 1pt of happiness), and the haircut brothers (who can raise it anywhere between 5 and 15 depending on the brother). Most pokemon (Legends excluded) start with a base happiness of 70 and, if evolving through love/happiness/whatever, their Happiness level has to be 220 or more. (The pokemon being caught in a Luxury Ball significantly cuts down the effort since they gain Happiness pts twice as fast and the Friend ball is the best to have as it sets their base happiness at 200)

Moving on (since I have spent a lot of time already in this post), I leveled my guys up a lot and discovered a new route I never caught anything at: Route 46. This is at the bottom of the route leading from Blackthorn City to Newbark town; it's kind of like a shortcut. Anyway, I had thought all of that was the same route, route 45, but once at the bottom, it showed up as route 46; a separate route! I avoided it in the beginning of the game since I didnt want to ruin my chances of a Skarmory, Donphan, or Gligar later. Unfortunately, even this route didn't give me much. All I got was a Geodude. I would use it, but its nature is awful. I'm going to try and breed it later since Im in desperate need of new pokemon.

With that being said, my new additions thus far have been Shuckie, Spirit (Umbreon), and Terra (Geodude). I trained my guys up till they reached 40 or so. Ifrit and Merry were both 40 and Dr. Claw was 36 when i attempted Claire's gym. Aside from Dr. Claw biting the dust, I managed to win. Once at Claire, I was holding my breath as it got tense. She had 4 people and I couldnt remember how many Dragonites she had. Turns out it was none. She had 2 Dragonairs, a Gyrados (who was obliterated by Merry), and a Kingdra (the tough one). I think I almost would have rather faced a Dragonite than Kingdra. Her first Dragonair and Gyrados went down fast; her team already half gone. The 2nd dragonair was more resilient. I chipped away; both of us healing. It was Ifrit vs Dragonair. Eventually, I forced a switch out when I burned her Dragonair and in came Kingdra. After losing Dr Claw not too long ago, I knew a 'Sniper' critical hit from a Hydro Pump was possible, so I switched in Spirit, my Umbreon. He was only level 28, but he actually survived a STAB Hydro Pump to the face. I healed him, and was hit again; heal and Hydro Pump once more. I switched in Shuckie so I could heal others. Shuckie was brought on specifically for this moment, and the Hydro Pump missed! I was able to get 2 people back to full (Ifrit & Merry) from previous scraps with Dragonairs and the fight was back on. With Shuckie gone, I threw in Merry and proceeded to Shock it to death, doing neutral damage (thanks to Dragon canceling out the water weakness) and he started to spam Hyper beam, which I survived and got 2 hits in, beating it. Her last guy was a badly damaged and still burnt Dragonair, so I laughed at it and it died. I had done it. I had avenged Dr. Claw's death by defeating the Blackthorn City gym leader, Claire!

From there, I took her stupid 'Dragon Challenge' (since she couldn't concede defeat) and I got the badge and TM from her upon approval. I also went back to see those 'Dragon Masters' and got a Dratini with Extreme Speed that I named Bahamut. With the final badge, Professor Elm called me back to his place and I got a Masterball (which I promptly used to track down one of the roaming Legends and caught Raikou). With that done, all that's left now is the weird Kabuki Dancers or whatever back at Mahogany.

Ah yes, one final bit. Before heading to Mahogany, I returned the carcass of Shuckie back to his original trainer in Cianwood City. he served his purpose and I believe Spirit only survived because Shuckie was there to sponge hits while I healed the others; a job that would have been Spirit's alone if not for him.

Almost forgot...the badge allowed me to use Waterfall, so I quickly delved into Mt. Mortar to face the Fighting Master and get Tyrogue from him. His nature detracts from Attack, though, so unless I can breed him, he wont have any use. I also went back near the Safari zone for that route that was only accessible with Waterfall. Before I reached the patch of grass, I encountered a Seel in the water and caught in (named him Jason for lack of a better name). I'd use him, but Dewgong is horrible.

Current Team:

Ifrit- Typhlosion- lvl 41

Merry- Ampharos- lvl 40

Batman- Crobat- lvl 34

Spirit- Umbreon- lvl 28

Raijin- Raikou- lvl 40

Deceased:

Dr. Claw- Kingler- lvl 36 (Critically hit for 3x damage thanks to the Sniper ability of an enemy Seadra and his beam of bubbles)